Andrè 3000 Benjamin recently opened up about his future in music in a rare candid interview.

The talented rapper, who is one half of the legendary rap group Outkast, paid a visit to the Broken Record Podcast earlier this week, powered by celebrated author Malcolm Gladwell and legendary producer Rick Rubin.

In the hour long interivew, Drè opened his heart to Rubin, explaining his current relationship with music and why he isn’t motivated to create another studio album.

Lisen to the full stream below…

Andrè 3000 talks to Rubin about the early days of OutKast, how he first found his voice, how his mental health diagnosis has been both a blessing a curse, why it’s so hard for him to write new material, and why he would rather perform at flea markets these days than sold-out arenas.

I haven’t been making much music, man. My focus is not there. My confidence is not there.

I tinker a lot. I’ll just go to a piano and I’ll set my iPhone down and just record what I’m doing, moving my fingers and whatever happens, but I haven’t been motivated to do a serious project.

Andrè, who is considered to be one of the most important artists in hip-hop history, admits that the history of success he’s earned has set the bar for new music from him ridiculously high.

The problem with being an artist–a successful artist– is that you have to find a comfortable place to do that again.

I liken it to a kid playing in their room with toys. You’re [makes explosion sounds], you have this world going on. The moment you’re mom opens the door and says, ‘Andre’ that world kind of stops. Once the attention is on that world, the world goes away. So you have to find a way to get back to that place to where you can build those worlds again and not have the eyes or the judging you know, and that’s hard for me.

Maybe I don’t have the confidence I want or the space to experiment like I use to because the stuff that people love from back then, it was made [freely]. You didn’t give a s**t, you didn’t care and they didn’t care. They didn’t even like you. So it was like, ‘Great, don’t like what we’re doing so we can keep doing what we’re doing.’

Andre’s interview with Rubin is very insightful and any fan of Outkast should take the time to listen.

The rapper admits he has been diagnosed with social anxiety and while it doesn’t make things easier, at least he knows why he prefers to isolate himself despite the public pressures of fame.

In my own self, I’m trying to figure out where do I sit. I don’t even know what I am and maybe I’m nothing. Maybe I’m not supposed to be anything. Maybe my history is kinda handicapping, in a way, so I’m just trying to find out what makes me feel the best right now. And what makes me feel the best is when I just do these random instrumental things. They make me feel the most rebellious . . . I don’t like to go with the flow, really. I don’t know why but I just feel best when I don’t, so I have to honor that.